Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban atmosphere

of Hong Kong
S.C. Lee
a,
*
, M.Y. Chiu
a
, K.F. Ho
a
, S.C. Zou
b
, Xinming Wang
c
a
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Research Center for Urban Environmental Technology and Management,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong
b
Department of Chemistry, Zhongshan University, Guangzhou 510275, China
c
State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science,
Guangzhou 510640, China
Received 4 December 2000; received in revised form 9 January 2001; accepted 22 January 2002
Abstract
The assessment of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has become a major issue of air quality network monitoring
in Hong Kong. This study is aimed to identify, quantify and characterize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in dif-
ferent urban areas in Hong Kong. The spatial distribution, temporal variation as well as correlations of VOCs at ve
roadside sampling sites were discussed. Twelve VOCs were routinely detected in urban areas (Mong Kok, Kwai Chung,
Yuen Long and Causeway Bay). The concentrations of VOCs ranged from undetectable to 1396 lg/m
3
. Among all of
the VOC species, toluene has the highest concentration. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) were the
major constituents (more than 60% in composition of total VOC detected), mainly contributed from mobile sources.
Similar to other Asian cities, the VOC levels measured in urban areas in Hong Kong were aected both by automobile
exhaust and industrial emissions. High toluene to benzene ratios (average T/B ratio 5) was also found in Hong Kong
as in other Asian cities. In general, VOC concentrations in the winter were higher than those measured in the summer
(winter to summer ratio > 1). As toluene and benzene were the major pollutants from vehicle exhausts, there is a
necessity to tighten automobile emission standards in Hong Kong. 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
Keywords: VOCs; Urban area; BTEX ratio; BTEX correlation
1. Introduction
As the air quality becomes increasingly deteriorated
in cities world-wide and people were concerned for their
health, air quality monitoring has extended beyond the
criteria pollutants (carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide,
oxide of nitrogen, ozone and particulate matter) to in-
clude measurements of some toxic air pollutants (TAPs)
such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Emissions
of a large number of anthrogenic volatile organic com-
pounds (VOCs) are prevalent in urbanized areas. VOCs
play an important role in the formation of ozone and
photochemical oxidants associated with urban smog.
Interest in determining the VOCs in the atmosphere has
increased over the last several decades. Researches have
focused on the urban levels of VOCs, especially aromatic
and chlorinated organic compounds, due to the known
and suspected carcinogenic nature of these species.
Hong Kong is one of the most crowded cities in
the world, with more than 6.8 million people, and up
to 558 000 gasoline or diesel-run motor vehicles regis-
tered in 1997 (Trac and Transport Survey Division,
Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382
www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +852-2766-6011; fax: +852-
2334-6389.
E-mail address: ceslee@polyu.edu.hk (S.C. Lee).
0045-6535/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
PII: S0045- 6535( 02) 00040- 1
1997). Large amounts of VOCs are released from both
stationary and mobile sources everyday. Control mea-
sures had been taken by the Hong Kong Environmental
Protection Department (HKEPD) to control toxic air
pollution. In 1993, the HKEPD measured nine VOCs at
three locations at typical mixed residential and industrial
areas of Hong Kong in order to obtain preliminary data
on VOCs. In 1994, the proposed interim guidelines for
specic VOCs were published to provide VOC limits
based on the eects on relevant health data. In 1997, two
toxic air pollutants monitoring stations were set up. An
indoor and outdoor air quality comparison study (Lee
and Chan, 1988; Lee, 1997) showed that benzene and
toluene concentrations in Hong Kong are comparative
higher than the other countries. High levels of benzene
and toluene in urban areas might be emitted by auto-
mobile. The other pollutants such as xylene, ethylben-
zene, styrene, tetrachloroethene were found in similar
proportions to one another at dierent sites in Hong
Kong. Apreliminary study of VOCin Guangzhou, Hong
Kong and Macau revealed that organic compounds
produced from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels,
especially from vehicular exhaust, predominated both in
aerosol and VOCs in these samples. However, geological
dust and modern living plants also contributed to the
toxic organic pollutants (PAHs, BTEX and chlorinated
hydrocarbons) in ambient air. In addition, the contri-
bution of emission from kitchen is likely signicant due
to the characteristic Chinese stir-frying cooking process
(stove and food). However, few VOC measurements and
variation trend studies related to Hong Kong were per-
formed and the other VOCs listed in USEPA Method
TO-14 were not concerned in the past studies.
The objective of this research is aimed to investigate
the variation of VOCs concentrations at ve urban sites
and to characterize the source proles of VOCs in Hong
Kong.
2. Experimental
2.1. Sampling sites and descriptions
In order to investigate the spatial distribution of
VOCs in dierent land use areas, ve sites were selected
based on their dierent landuse categories, populations
and trac densities. As shown in Fig. 1, ve sampling
sites including Mong Kok, Causeway Bay, Kuai Chung,
Yuen Long and Hok Tsui were selected for VOC mon-
itoring. Their trac volume and location of the sam-
pling sites were presented in Table 1 and the eld
descriptions were given as follows:
Mong Kok (MK): It is an urban residential area with
high density of population and trac. Buildings are old
and have many ground level shops.
Fig. 1. Maps of VOC sampling locations in Hong Kong.
376 S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382
Causeway Bay (CB): It is an important commercial
area with heavy trac density and many high-rise
commercial buildings.
Kwai Chung (KC): Most of the industries in Hong
Kong, mainly metal and printing industries, are located
in this area. They are close to residential buildings and
most of the vehicles are light and heavy duty lorries.
Yuen Long (YL): This is a newly developed area ad-
jacent to Shenzhen, in which industrialization has been
dramatically developed in recent years. There, the vil-
lages, old low-rise and newly built high-rise residential
buildings are all mixed up.
Hok Tsui (HT) is situated at the tip of south Hong
Kong with the least anthrogenic pollution and envi-
ronmental impact. Usually, it is considered as a back-
ground monitoring station.
2.2. Sampling
Sampling was conducted at ve other sites (MK, CB,
KC, YL and HT) in morning rush hours (8:009:00
a.m.) from September 1997 to September 1999 for un-
derstanding the spatial distribution and seasonal varia-
tions of VOCs in Hong Kong. Ten samples were
collected on winter (December and January) and sum-
mer (July and August) months separately and total 20
samples were collected from each site. The sampler
consisted of a pre-evacuated SUMMA canister with a
vacuum gauge and a critical orice controller. The sam-
pling ow rate was adjusted to sample approximately 2.7
l/min for 15 min and was calibrated against a SKC Air
Flow Calibrator. Sampling canisters were cleaned by
repeated evacuating and lling of humidied zero air for
45 circles. All ambient samples were collected from a
height of 1.2 m with the pre-cleaned stainless steel can-
isters. All sample analyses were completed within one
week after collection.
2.3. Analytical methodology
Sampling and measurements of 12 VOCs in ambient
samples were conducted in accordance with the USEPA
Method TO-14 (USEPA, 1997). Air samples were ana-
lyzed using a combined cryogenic concentrator (NU-
TECH 3350A, USA) with gas chromatograph (HP
6890A) tted with MSD (HP 5973). Two hundred and
fty ml of sample was loaded and the target compounds
were trapped in the cryogenic concentrator with liquid
nitrogen. The analytes were desorbed rapidly from 190
to 150 C. For GCMS, a capillary column (Restek
RTX-1 column, 60 m0:32 mm ID0:3 lm) was used
with an initial oven temperature of 30 to 80 C at a
rate of 10 Cmin
1
and then was raised to 220 C at a
rate of 5 Cmin
1
(held for 5 min). A calibration curve
was built for each of the compounds calibrated at ve
dierent concentrations. Correlation coecients ranged
from 0.9823 (methylene chlorine) to 0.9999 (toluene).
Response linearity tests showed that response signal was
proportional to injection volume (50250 ml) or VOC
concentrations (0.112 ppbv). Method detection limits
(MDLs) for each of compounds were assessed using
10 ppbv of mixed standards in six sampling canisters.
MDLs ranged from 0.06 to 0.40 ppbv for 38 mixed
standards, and from 0.06 to 0.20 ppbv for the target
compounds in this study. For each batch of samples,
reproducibility check was performed using duplicated
sample analysis. The relative average deviation of two
runs in all cases was within 10%. Zero air (blank) tests
were carried out both in the eld and laboratory to
check contaminant levels.
3. Results and discussion
One hundred samples were collected during the pe-
riod from September 1997 to September 1999 at ve
sampling sites. Thirty out of the 42 compounds listed in
the Compendium Method TO-14 were below the limit of
detection. Most of these VOCs are the most reactive
compounds and may be oset in part by removal from
the atmosphere due to reactions with the hydroxyl
radical and with ozone. Table 2 lists a summary of the
12 VOCs which have been detected and quantied.
Signicant variations exist in the data at each sampling
location and distributions of these VOC compounds are
very dierent at the four urban sites. Toluene, m,p-xyl-
enes and benzene are common top three species in all the
four sites and contribute around 5070% of total VOCs
at these urban sites. It showed that trac emissions are
the most important sources in Hong Kong.
3.1. Comparison of VOC emission for each urban
locations
Five sampling locations (Mong Kok, Kwai Chung,
Causeway Bay and Yuen Long and Hok Tsui) were
chosen to represent urban residential area, industrial
area, commercial area, newly developed area and back-
ground station, respectively.
Table 1
Trac volume and simple description for the selected sampling
sites
Site Category Trac
volume
Main road
MK Residential 39 510 Nathan Road
CB Commercial 17 270 Lockhart Road
KC Industrial 15 110 Tai Lin Pai Road
YL Newly developed 18 790 Yuen Long Avenue
HT Background
S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382 377
Mong Kok (MK) is the most populated and heavy
tracked area in Hong Kong. BTEX (Benzene, tolu-
ene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene) are mainly
from trac emissions. However, tetrachloroethene was
sometimes found to be as high as 409.5 lg/m
3
and the
average concentration was 67.1 lg/m
3
. It is possible that
tetrachloroethene was emitted from uses of cleaners,
especially from the dry-cleaning shops along with the
streets.
Compared to MK station, majority of VOCs at CB
and YL were lower due to the relatively low trac
volume at the two sites. On the other hand, VOC levels
at CB are slightly higher than those at YL station
probably due to the poor dispersion at CB.
The VOC spectrum at KC site was distinctively dif-
ferent from the other stations. Most industries in Hong
Kong are centralized in this region, especially metal and
printing industries. As shown in Table 2, KC has the
highest VOC emissions (total median 386.13 lg/m
3
)
among all the studied areas. The average concentrations
of chlorinated compounds, such as methylene chloride,
tri- and tetrachloroethene, were 39.68, 84.49 and 25.38
lg/m
3
, respectively and their maximum values were up
to 355.27, 895.56 and 455.53 lg/m
3
, respectively. Since
KC is far from the residential area, these chlorinated
compounds were released mainly from the factories in
this region, for example, degreasing of parts, solvent-
evaporating during cleaning process, and so on. Even
though KC was a relatively open site and has lower
trac volume, its BTEX emissions have higher con-
centration levels than those in MK. It implied that much
BTEX in KC were emitted from industrial sources
mixing with the emissions from motor vehicles.
3.2. Comparison of VOC levels with other cities
The daily average concentrations of benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene, m,p- and o-xylenes (BTEX) were com-
pared with other cities commonly discussed in most of
studies (Edgerton et al., 1989; Gee and Sollars, 1998). As
shown in Fig. 2, Manila and Bangkok have the highest
concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes. It
is relevant to indicate that many industries are mixed
with residential areas. However, the average benzene
concentration (13 lg/m
3
) in Hong Kong were similar to
those in Manila (13 lg/m
3
) and Bangkok (19 lg/m
3
).
Compared with Rome, Hong Kong has comparable
toluene and ethylbenzene levels. However, the benzene
and xylenes in Hong Kong were 50% lower than those
measured in Rome. The dierences of BTEX ratios
among these cities showed that their industrial types and
trac compositions are dierent from each other. BTEX
emission prole described in Fig. 2 showed that Hong
Kong is at median ranges among the seven cities.
3.3. Seasonal variations of TVOC concentrations in Hong
Kong
In Hong Kong, winter season includes November,
December, January and February; while summer season
Fig. 2. Comparison of BTEX concentrations for seven cities
including Hong Kong.
Table 2
Average concentrations of 12 VOC species at urban and background locations
Compounds unit (lg/m
3
) MK (n 20) KC (n 20) YL (n 20) CB (n 20) HT (n 20)
Methylene chloride 1.40 1.32 39.68 80.34 1.29 1.41 3.79 7.65 1.65 2.14
Chloroform 1.13 1.04 0.68 0.54 0.66 0.75 1.04 1.21 0.87 2.51
Trichloroethene 0.85 0.96 84.49 194.72 1.34 2.55 1.26 2.43 0.27 0.51
Tetrachloroethene 67.08 137.26 25.38 101.28 1.92 2.22 3.85 3.46 1.87 3.33
1,3-Butadiene 2.41 2.32 1.28 1.16 0.75 0.72 0.52 0.51 0.22 0.19
Benzene 15.11 22.95 15.07 16.60 10.53 10.81 10.05 7.24 2.75 1.51
Toluene 137.15 195.14 139.35 263.98 45.20 50.97 71.10 65.13 4.58 3.26
Ethylbenzene 11.65 18.98 24.68 68.56 7.44 8.51 13.70 20.71 2.20 4.11
m,p-Xylene 22.45 36.99 27.88 54.32 12.27 19.06 13.47 13.23 2.68 2.40
o-Xylene 10.63 14.62 13.39 26.55 5.12 6.34 7.67 6.45 1.45 0.99
1,1,1-Dichloroethane 1.43 0.75 7.05 9.03 1.36 1.20 5.11 14.47 nd
Styrene 3.35 5.30 7.20 15.68 nd nd nd
378 S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382
is from May to August. Temperature in the winter sea-
son is usually between 10 and 20 C, while temperature
ranged usually from 25 to 33 C in the summer season.
In Hong Kong, strong monsoon wind and dry weather
characterize winter seasons. In the summer, it is hot
and humid with occasional showers and thunderstorms.
There are tropical cyclones, strong summer monsoon
winds, and thunderstorms in summer. Seasonal varia-
tions will greatly inuences the pollutant concentration
in atmosphere.
The total concentration of VOCs was obtained by
summing the concentrations of individual species de-
tected in this study. The seasonal averages of VOCs were
based on 10 samples collected during winter and summer
months at each site from September 1997 to September
1999. The seasonal median concentrations of total
VOCs (TVOC) for the ve sites are shown in Fig. 3. The
average concentration of TVOC exhibits a well-dened
seasonal pattern, except at KC station. The total con-
centrations were higher in winter than in summer. But
no similar pattern was found at KC station, suggesting
that there was another pollutant source during sum-
mertime. Table 3 gives the wintersummer concentra-
tion ratios of VOC species. It was found that most of
ratios at KC site were less than 1 due to much higher
industrial emission or pollutant sources in summer. In
contrast, the ratios of winter to summer at other stations
were usually more than 1, especially at MK station. This
could be explained on the basis of meteorological fac-
tors.
In general, there were several factors that could aect
the concentrations of VOCs in the winter and in the
summer. More rainy days in the summertime caused
washout eect of pollutants, thus accumulation of VOCs
was less than those in the dry winter. VOCs can also be
removed by the particulate matter by dry and wet de-
position. Chemical removal, especially by OH radicals,
is important during the summer. VOC removal is faster
in summer than winter as more sunlight and higher
temperatures produce higher chemical removal reaction
rate. Thus, the winter VOC concentrations were higher
than those in the summertime and similar results were
found in many other cities (Wathne, 1983; Hartwell
et al., 1987; Baek et al., 1997). However, the distances
between the monitoring stationsfrom station to sta-
tionfrom sampling site to site, are not too far from
each other. So the aboundance of OH

radicals is likely
not greatly dierent at the ve stations.
Because the eectiveness on ozone formation and
health risks for various VOCs species are dissimilar, it is
very important to investigate their concentration levels
or percentages of total VOC concentration on dierent
sampling sites. The percentages of VOC chemical spe-
ciation classes, i.e., aromatic hydrocarbons, chlorinated
hydrocarbons and other portion of VOCs species were
also summarized in Fig. 4. At the urban sites (MK, CB
Fig. 3. Seasonal variation of TVOC at Hong Kong.
Fig. 4. Percentages of dierent classes of VOC species at ve
sampling sites.
Table 3
Winter to summer average VOC concentration ratios
MK KC YL CW HT
Tetrachloroethene 6.29 0.98 0.24 0.56 nv
1,3-Butadiene 2.25 0.39 1.62 0.66 0.55
Benzene 6.64 3.03 2.62 2.17 1.56
Toluene 5.26 2.25 2.43 1.38 1.20
Ethylbenzene 6.44 0.41 2.18 0.53 3.20
m,p-Xylenes 8.74 0.34 2.45 1.33 2.22
o-Xylene 6.88 2.89 2.41 1.01 1.61
Styrene 11.38 0.13 0.35 1.08 0.53
S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382 379
and YL), the sum of aromatic contributed to most
of VOCs, varied from 67% to 78%, throughout the
study period. At the industrial site (KC), aromatic
and chlorinated species contributed to 44% and 54%
of TVOCs.
3.4. BTEX ratios
BTEX ratios were calculated to compare the VOC
emissions among the ve sampling sites. The BTEX
ratios of Mong Kok, Kwai Chung, Yuen Long,
Causeway Bay and Hok Tsui were (1.3:11.5:1.0:2.8),
(1.0:10.6:2.1:3.1), (1.4:6.1:1.0:2.6), (1.0:6.9:1.3:2.1) and
(3.3:6.3:1.3:1.0), respectively. The ratio of BTEX re-
ported in the other studies for vehicle exhaust was
(3:4:1:4), while in recent studies in the Lincoln Tunnel
(USA) the ratio was (3:5:1:3). The ratios of BTEX in
Hong Kong were dierent to these ratios that reected
the ratios of on-road vehicle emissions. However, they
were very close to the ratios at three urban sites in New
Jersey. The ratios of BTEX were (3:14:1:4), (4:11:1:3)
and (7:11:1:3) at Newark, Elizabeth and Camden, re-
spectively (Harkov et al., 1983). The results indicate that
both exhaust and evaporative emissions are sources
contributing to levels of these pollutants in New Jer-
sey. The dierences of BTEX ratios showed that Hong
Kong has unique emission pattern. The climate, to-
pography, characteristics of vehicle fuel used, orienta-
tion and alignment of buildings, industries and roads,
etc. may inuence the VOC proles in Hong Kong. It
is a complex scenario that requires more data and in-
tensive measurements in order to draw a conclusion.
However, the screening ratios showed that the emis-
sion characteristics of each district have great dier-
ences.
3.5. Toluene to benzene ratios
Toluene to benzene ratio (T/B) is usually reported by
researches besides BTEX ratios. T/B ratio ranged from
2 to 10 in Hong Kong. T/B ratios in Kwai Chung, Mong
Kok, Causeway Bay, Yuen Long and Hok Tsui were
10.0, 9.1, 7.1, 4.4 and 1.9, respectively. Comparing other
cities with the main sources of benzene and toluene were
from vehicle exhaust, it is reasonable to explain that
there are other sources of toluene in Hong Kong. It is
interested to note that T/B ratio increased as the trac
volume, industrial emissions and other urban sources
increased in denser areas. Hong Kong has T/B ratio of
about 5.0 while the other cities have T/B ratio of 2.0
3.3. Brocco et al. (1997) found that the T/B ratio in the
urban area of Rome ranged from 2.0 to 3.3. Similar
ratios of 10 were observed in Asian cities such as Manila
and Bangkok (Gee and Sollars, 1998). Kwai Chung and
Mong Kok showed similar results with other Asian
cities because they all are located in similar area settings
with large industrial emissions. It is also believed that
there are additional sources of toluene in Kwai Chung
and Mong Kok. Overall, Hong Kong and other Asian
cities had relatively large T/B ratio. Gee and Sollars
(1998) suggested that there are large additional sources
of toluene in these cities or that there are major dif-
ferences in the fuels or vehicles used. It is clear that
unleaded fuels that are widely used in Asian cities in-
cluding Hong Kong contain very high aromatic level
(45%).
3.6. BTEX correlations
As shown in Table 4, BTEX correlations were eval-
uated at the ve districts. Good BTEX correlation
(R
2
> 0:8) was found in Hok Tsui. This background site,
with no nearby point sources to skew the correlation,
received pollution from the region that was predomi-
nantly related to the automobile. Mong Kok and Yuen
Long had signicant correlations among the BTEX.
Good correlations among TEX and poor correlation
of benzene with TEX were found in Kwai Chung. TEX
mainly came from trac emission, painting and indus-
trial solvents while benzene mainly came from trac
source. Since there were two complicated sources for
BTEX in Kwai Chung, it was reasonable to expect a
poor correlation. Causeway Bay had poor BTEX cor-
relation. The poor correlation can be explained by the
mixed sources of BTEX that appeared at dierent times
or that some sources of BTEX only emitted at a certain
time, such as the evaporation of solvents during cleaning
processes.
Benzene was well correlated with other aromatic
VOCs at Hok Tsui, Mong Kok and Yuen Long. As
discussed above, benzene and other aromatic hydro-
carbons were predominantly from motor vehicle ex-
haust. Thus, benzene can be used as an indicator for
other aromatic hydrocarbons in heavy trac areas. The
correlation between benzene and toluene at each station
was plotted in Fig. 5. Mong Kok and Yuen Long had
slope (toluene to benzene ratio (T/B)) of 4.6. However,
it was obvious that Mong Kok had more additional
sources of toluene or their background levels of toluene
were much higher than that of Yuen Long. As men-
tioned above, Kwai Chung is an area with much VOC
emission from dierent kinds of industries; thus, it has a
higher background level of toluene (R
2
< 4). In Mong
Kok, trac jam frequently occurred which caused
accumulation of pollutants and toluene has shorter half-
life in the atmosphere, therefore higher toluene back-
ground levels were measured. Higher T/B ratio (5.5) was
found in Causeway Bay than in other urban areas, while
T/B ratio of 1.2 was found in Hok Tsui.
380 S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382
4. Conclusion
The concentrations of VOCs at ve urban sites in
Hong Kong were quantied by using canister with GC/
MS system in accordance with the US EPA Method TO-
14. The accuracies of VOCs analysis were validated
with quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC)
procedures. VOCs (1,3-butadiene, methylene chloride,
chloroform, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, 1,1,1-
trichloroethane, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m,p-
xylene, o-xylene and styrene) were identied at roadside
urban areas in Hong Kong. The concentrations of VOCs
ranged from undetectable to 1396 lg/m
3
. Among all of
the VOC species, toluene has the highest concentration.
High concentrations of chlorinated compounds were
found at Kwai Chung where it is located in an industrial
area with industrial emissions. Hok Tsui served as a
background station with VOC concentrations less than
10 lg/m
3
since there were no signicant anthropologenic
sources. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes
(BTEX) were mainly from vehicle exhausts, while chlo-
rinated compounds were mainly from industries, clean-
ing processes and chemical solvents. However, mixed
sources were frequently observed at Mong Kok and
Causeway Bay. The concentrations of VOCs in Hong
Kong were similar to other cities in the world. However,
the ratios of T/B (average T/B ratio 5) were higher in
Hong Kong than that of other cities (average T/B
ratio 2 or 3). The morning concentration ratios were
varied at dierent locations. In general, VOC concen-
trations mirrored those of other cities in that VOC
concentrations were higher in winter than in summer.
Hong Kong has a unique VOC emission pattern due to
the unique climate, topography and the density of ve-
hicles and population. Thus, the VOC proles, such as
BTEX ratios and temporal variations were dierent
from other urban cities. Given that toluene and benzene
were the major cancer causing pollutants from vehicle
Table 4
Summary of BTEX correlation coecients (R
2
in ve sampling locations
Benzene Toluene Ethylbenzene m,p-Xylenes o-Xylene
MK
Benzene 1.00
Toluene 0.82 1.00
Ethylbenzene 0.83 0.97 1.00
m,p-Xylene 0.84 0.82 0.90 1.00
o-Xylene 0.85 0.77 0.85 0.98 1.00
KC
Benzene 1.00
Toluene 0.34 1.00
Ethylbenzene 0.13 0.98 1.00
m,p-Xylene 0.32 0.94 0.90 1.00
o-Xylene 0.27 0.97 0.94 0.99 1.00
YL
Benzene 1.00
Toluene 0.93 1.00
Ethylbenzene 0.87 0.80 1.00
m,p-Xylene 0.75 0.64 0.88 1.00
o-Xylene 0.88 0.81 0.93 0.95 1.00
CW
Benzene 1.00
Toluene 0.53 1.00
Ethylbenzene 0.06 0.72 1.00
m,p-Xylene 0.54 0.73 0.35 1.00
o-Xylene 0.43 0.85 0.63 0.82 1.00
HT
Benzene 1.00
Toluene 0.93 1.00
Ethylbenzene 0.96 1.00 1.00
m,p-Xylene 0.94 0.93 0.90 1.00
o-Xylene 0.89 0.93 0.91 0.97 1.00
S.C. Lee et al. / Chemosphere 48 (2002) 375382 381
exhaust, there is a need to tighten emission standards for
such toxic compounds.
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